AAPG’s Publishing Legacy Adds New Chapters

By David K. Curtiss

AAPG is a science publisher. It’s a tradition that dates back to our founding. And our flagship journal, the BULLETIN, and our special publications are usually a core part of a petroleum geoscientist’s professional library.

Last month was a big one for AAPG science publishing.

♦ AAPG’s associate editors were invited by Elected Editor Steve Laubach to gather in Houston on Feb. 4 to discuss improvements to the BULLETIN’s editorial process, select publication awards and talk about developing a short course for aspiring young authors.

That evening the attendees were inducted into the Charles Taylor Fellowship. The fellowship, named after the BULLETIN’s first editor, Charles H. Taylor, was established by AAPG’s Executive Committee to recognize the vital contributions that all current and former associate editors have made to ensuring that AAPG maintains high standards of published science.

♦ Then on Feb. 7, at a meeting convened by AAPG President Ted Beaumont and SEG President David Monk, my SEG counterpart Steven Davis and I signed a memorandum of understanding for AAPG to join as a partner in the new journalInterpretation.

Interpretation, launched by SEG late last year, is a peer-reviewed quarterly designed to publish papers on the science and practice of interpreting data to better understand Earth’s subsurface, particularly as it relates to the exploration and extraction of resources and for environmental and engineering applications.

This journal fills an important space in science publishing and our participation is the outgrowth of an enhanced and evolving partnership with SEG.

♦ Finally, last month marked the launch of a new BULLETIN feature.

Editor Laubach has been working closely with Beverly Molyneaux, AAPG’s managing editor of technical publications, and Geoscience Director Jim Blankenship to ensure that BULLETIN authors’ manuscripts are published as quickly as possible.

The result is a new website for the BULLETIN and a new feature called Ahead of Print . There you will find manuscripts that have been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication, but have not yet gone through the lay-out and production process.

Ahead of Print gives our members and subscribers the ability to access AAPG science as soon as it’s accepted. This benefits users and is an important step in attracting authors to publish in the BULLETIN.

Ensuring that AAPG remains a relevant and successful science publisher is vital to our long-term objectives. Last month’s activities build upon a strong foundation and position us for the future.

And there are further improvements to come.

I’d like to leave you with one more thought:

Most of us are consumers of the science information published by AAPG. We sift through the online BULLETIN archives and Search and Discovery for papers or presentations that will help us better understand an exploration concept or the geology of a particular region.

That’s great! That’s what these resources are meant to do – to help you do your job better.

But those papers and presentations are only there because someone took the time – usually personal time – to put words on paper, to draft figures and to edit and revise. They probably didn’t do it for fame and fortune (although I wouldn’t dismiss the possibility). Instead they likely saw this contribution as a way to improve their own understanding, to enhance their professional standing and to step into the role of teacher, contributing to the scientific discourse.